13.3 per cent of the community requires assistance with core activities, this represents 66 people.

The number of people requiring assistance has increased by 18 people between the 2016 and 2021 Census data, meaning the percentage of the population that need support with core activities has increased by 37.5 per cent.

In addition, the number of people that have 'not stated' need for assistance has increased from 14.1 per cent (63 people) in 2016 to 16.3 per cent (81 people) in 2021.

The largest proportion of people that required assistance with core activities in 2021 was those aged 55-64, making up 27.3 per cent (18 people) of those that need assistance. Followed by those aged 65-74 or 22.7 per cent (15 people) of people, those aged 45-54 represent 21.2 per cent (14 people) of the population that need assistance.

The largest increase in people needing assistance with core activities between 2016 and 2021 were those aged 75-84. There were no people in this age bracket in 2016 while in 2021 there were 10 people representing 15.2 per cent of those that need assistance.

There are 77 people providing unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition or due to old age within Baffle Creek, Deepwater and Rules Beach. There has been a minimal increase of six people providing unpaid assistance between 2016 and 2021.

There have been several fluctuations in the age of those providing support with no general trend seen from the data. There were decreases across two age brackets. In 2016, 38 per cent (27 people) of those providing assistance were aged 55-64. This reduced by 19.8 per cent or 13 people to 18.2 per cent (14 people) in 2021. The number of people providing support aged 15-19 reduced from three people in 2016 to 0 in 2021.

There were increases across four age brackets, the largest was people aged 65-74 which increased from 15 people to 22 people, taking the percentage of those providing support in this age bracket from 21.1 per cent to 28.6 per cent.  The second largest increase was for those aged 35-44 increasing from 4.2 per cent (three people) in 2016 to 9.1 per cent (seven people) in 2021. This is closely followed by people aged 45-54, which increased from 21.1 per cent (15 people) of those providing support in 2016 to 24.7 per cent (19 people) in 2021. The number of people providing support aged 25-34 increased from seven to nine people between 2016 and 2021, this age bracket represented 9.9 per cent of people providing support in 2016 and 11.7 per cent in 2021.

Considerations:

• The majority of people requiring assistance with core activities are aged between 55-84.  The movement within these categories could suggest that residents are ageing in place.
• The age of carers providing unpaid assistance has seen similar increases to those requiring care.  This could suggest that care is provided in a couple relationship.